Animals vs. Cyclists (continued)

In case you’re wondering, it’s not just squirrels that can get in the way of cyclists here in Central Florida.  One of my other close calls with animals came during the ’09 Horrible Hundred.  This is one of the premier century events in this area, called “horrible” because it takes into account every hill in the area.  (I know what you’re thinking—Florida, right?  What hills could there possibly be?  And no, this is nothing like the Alps, or even 6-Gap, but there are some short, steep hills in Lake County, and we take what we can get.)  There is a section of this ride, out in the range of about the 50- or 60-mile mark that we call "the land that time forgot". (It's miles and miles of nothing, that is miles and miles from anywhere--you don't really see too much in that section that reminds you of civilization...) I was riding with 2 other guys at that point, and as we looked ahead down the road, we saw, running towards us at full tilt on the right-hand shoulder of the road, a bull—one of those really big bulls, with those really long horns, with the really pointy tips.

We had no idea why a bull would be running along the road, but as we looked closer we could see that he was being chased by a horse.  No rider, no saddle, no reins—just a horse.  So what do you do when a bull is running right at you, being chased by a horse?  We didn't know either. (Especially since it was a really big bull, with—you know—those really long horns, with the really pointy tips.)  So we just kind of slid over into the middle of the road, and hoped that the bull would stay on the shoulder.  Well, apparently the bull thought that the middle-of-the-road idea was a good one, because right after we made our move, he came out into the road, still running full speed ahead, still being chased by the horse.  Now, not only do I know nothing about how to out-think a squirrel, I really don't know how to out-think a bull and I had no idea what to do then.  And the other 2 guys were in the same position, so without even saying anything we all just kind of clamped up the brakes and stopped in the middle of the road.  Apparently the bull was just setting himself up for a right-turn at the next intersection because he kept drifting over to the other side of the road, and ran right past us on our left, with the horse right on his heels. 

Whew!  Squirrels are one thing, but a bull running at full speed, being chased by a horse—that’s something else altogether.  Yeah, if you want to ride around here, you’ve got to be ready to deal with the wildlife.